Citation

Crabtree E, Brest B, Lewis RK. J. Prev. Interv. Community 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Psychology Department, Wichita State University , Wichita , Kansas , USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10852352.2019.1654259

PMID

31429380

Abstract

Suicidality is a serious concern in this country. In the U.S. nearly 40,000 people die by suicide each year. It is the 10th leading cause of death. For those 15-24, it is the 2nd leading cause of death. Using data from the Add Health Longitudinal data set and data gathered from a local organization an examination of suicidality among African American youth was conducted. Given the trauma and low resourced situations many African American adolescents find themselves in, interventions are needed to address these health concerns before other issues such as education and other life options (i.e., careers) are addressed. Questions that participants were asked related to suicidal ideation and suicide attempts; did you ever seriously consider attempting suicide and did you attempt suicide? The results showed that the local sample had higher suicidal ideation than the Add health national sample (20% vs. 13.6%), respectively. The local sample had higher percentages of suicide attempts in the past twelve months compared to the National sample. There was a statistically significant difference between females and males in the sample. Limitations and future research are found in the discussion.

Language: en

Keywords

Adolescent; African American; suicidality